Chapter 26
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Sorry I'm becoming really slow with the updates. Between school, basketball, bat mitzvahs…I'm pretty busy. I've had 6 basketball games in 5 days! But anyway, sorry about that. And this chapter's gonna be a short one, sorry.
Also, sorry if when Edward proposes, it doesn't turn out as good as some of you wanted it.
I don't own anything; it all belongs to Stephenie Meyer, lucky person.
Previously;
"But still. I left you." I was ashamed to admit it, so I couldn't meet his eyes.
"But you didn't want to, right?" He asked. I nodded. "And you do still love me, right?"
I nodded again. "Just checking," He grinned really wide and I knew that he had forced himself to believe that foolish lie for so long, that he loved to hear the truth now. His smile was so wide and glorious and…perfect that I could not look away and instead responded with a huge smile of my own.
"Then there is something that I want to do…again. I had a feeling I might need this."
Still with that huge smile on his face, he got down on one knee.
BPOV
I gasped. Was Edward about to do what I think he was going to do? He couldn't—could he?
"Isabella," He spoke, and he looked up at me from his crouched position on the floor in front of me. He looked up at me, and his eyes were more beautiful then I had ever seen them before.
"You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful, the most caring, the most amazing woman that I've ever met. I am the luckiest man in the world to have found you." He looked down at the ground for a minute, trying to compose himself. I could tell that if he were human, he would have been crying. But still, he pressed on, trying to get it all out before the emotion became too much for him to handle.
"When I left, and then, when you left, I felt that the world was over. That the sky had fallen, that there would be no tomorrow. I can't tell you the amount of times I thought about going to Italy and just ending everything." I cringed, horrified at the thought.
I sniffed, for once glad that I was not human anymore. I knew that if I was, I would not be able to control the sobs that would have been pouring down my cheeks. "So Bella," he continued. "I've realized that I can't live without you—and I won't."
I could feel the moment approaching, and I knew that I would have to make a decision soon.
"Oh my god," I breathed, for Edward had just done something that I never thought I would live to see him do. He put his hand into the pocket of the jeans that he had worn. Ruffed and scratched as the jeans were, I had never been happier when I saw what he carried in his hand as he pulled his hand out of his pocket.
The small, black velvet box nestled in his hand as I stared at it. He snapped it open and I could see a beautiful ring in between the small crack that was designed to hold it. It was beautiful; the band was a pure silver color that reflected off Edward's skin as he held it up in the sunlight. A row of diamonds lined the face of the ring, staring back at me. I couldn't take my eyes off of it.
"So," He spoke, breaking off my eyes from the ring and I looked up to find myself immersed in his golden eyes instead. "Bella. I love you. I do now, and I will forever and always. Will you marry me?"
So, looking up into his golden eyes, I wanted so much to say yes. To say yes, and to forget everything else for a minute. But that wouldn't help anything.
I couldn't do this to Edward. I had always known that he was too good for me. It wouldn't be fair to him to say yes, just for my sake. I had to free him of any debt that he felt that he owed me. I couldn't continue to torture him like this. It wasn't his fault--even though I'm sure that he thought it was, that's why he was doing this—that I was changed into a vampire.
I could tell that he was only asking me to do this because he felt that he owed me that much, to damn me to this existence forever. I couldn't do that—I had to set him free.
I opened my mouth to tell him so, but his voice interrupted me. "Bella?" He asked, his expression only showing love for me, and concern. I realized that I hadn't spoken, or moved, for that matter in some time, that was probably why he was worried.
But in that moment, when he spoke my name, everything suddenly became crystal clear, like I was looking through a window at someone else, and someone had just lifted the dust off of the glass so I could see properly.
Everything was finally laid out for me—just by the sound of his voice. All the pieces of this not-so-complicated-after-all puzzle were laid out in front of me, in black and white. Now I just had to piece together the puzzle pieces.
In a rush of something that could only be called destiny, I could suddenly see everything, and I could see the way things are supposed to go. I could see Edward's face, not looking at me like some charity case, not looking like someone who he would hate to have around forever, as an immortal annoyance.
No, Edward was looking at me like he loved me. There was worry, and concern for my lack of speaking thrown in there too, but the one element in his eyes that overshadowed the rest was that he loved me. And that was it. Was it really that simple? Could someone as perfect and brilliant and caring as him ever love someone as unremarkable and imperfect as me?
I loved him. And he loved me.
Was life, was love really that simple? Maybe it was, maybe life was that simple.
Well, if it was, there was only one way to find out. And we would find out—together.
"Bella?" He asked again, the concern for me overpowering all other things in his eyes right now. But there was also something else thrown in there too. Disappointment—that was what it was. He was getting prepared to be rejected.
"Yes," I whispered, very softly, but I was sure he could hear me. Just one word, but it would bind us together for all of eternity. He blinked.
"What?" He asked, hardly daring to believe what I was telling him.
"Yes," I whispered again, for his benefit, but for mine as well. "Yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes." I said, my voice getting stronger with each yes.
"Yes? Did you just say yes?" Edward jumped up and had both hands on my shoulders, one on each side.
"Yes," I replied, reaching out to wipe away the imaginary tears that I was sure were rolling down my face.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"I'll never be surer of anything in my entire life, no matter how long I live."
Then, his mouth was on mine, and as we kissed, he slipped the ring onto my finger.
"Forever?" He asked me, his voice trembling with suppressed emotion. A wide grin spread across his face, as if he couldn't believe what I had just told him. I couldn't believe it either.
"Forever," I confirmed, and we walked away from the clearing, hand in hand, to tell the rest of the family.
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Jamie